"This change means that developers can now offer an alternative billing system alongside Google Play's billing system to users in India making in-app purchases within Play-distributed apps on mobile phones and tablets," the search giant said in an email reviewed by ET.
Developers, however, said this was a direct violation of the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) guidelines and alleged that Google was 'finding loopholes' in the CCI's verdict and 'going the South Korea way' wherein they introduced user choice billing after coming under fire from regulatory authorities in South Korea.
The CCI in its two rulings — one on October 20 and the second on October 25 — had directed the American company to make close to 20 changes in the operation of its services in India which included providing alternative payment options to developers.
In its verdict, the CCI said, "Google shall allow, and not restrict app developers from using any third-party billing/ payment processing services, either for in-app purchases or for purchasing apps. Google shall also not discriminate or otherwise take any adverse measures against such apps using third party billing/ payment processing services, in any manner."
In January, Google announced around five changes to the way it operates Android and Google Play billing in India. One among these changes was to expand user choice billing to all developers.
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Google was forced to extend the timeline for apps on alternative payment systems to comply with its play billing system multiple times and also had to defer the enforcement of 30% commission on in-app purchases of digital goods from its Play Store in India owing to mounting protests by Indian developers."Google is 'finding loopholes' in the CCI verdict," Snehil Khanor, co-founder & CEO of TrulyMadly.com told ET. "The CCI clearly mandated that they should permit third party payments but in doing this Google is ensuring that the payments are routed through them. It is exactly what they did in South Korea by launching user choice billing after the South Korean authorities mandated that they should allow users multiple payment options."
A Google spokesperson also told ET earlier that the company has submitted its compliance plan to the CCI and continues to follow the legal process in India.
"We are making some changes as required by the CCI’s directives. Implementation of these changes across the ecosystem will be a complex process and will require significant work at our end and, in many cases, significant efforts from partners, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and developers," Google had said in its blog post at the time.
Policy think tank Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) on Thursday also alleged that Google was "blatantly disobeying" the CCI orders by charging app developers an 'exorbitant' 11-26% commission. ADIF said that if a user pays through an alternate billing system, the Google Play service fee will be reduced by 4%.
"Thus, while an alternative billing system will be permitted by Google, it will continue charging service fees from the developers which will be 4% less than the normal service which they would charge if the user had availed of the GPBS option i.e., the commission rate under user choice would be 11% or 26%, as the case may be. Therefore, despite not using any service from Google, app developers will be forced to pay commissions to Google," ADIF said in a statement on Thursday.
"When a consumer chooses to use an alternative billing system, the standard service fee the developer pays will be reduced by 4%," a Google spokesperson told ET on Thursday.
The spokesperson went on to add that Google Play’s service fee has never been simply a fee for payment processing.
"It reflects the value provided by Android and Google Play, and all of the developer services we offer, including app distribution and discovery, the commerce platform, developer tools, analytics, training, and more," the spokesperson said.
In a blog post in 2021, Google's Senior Director of Public Policy Wilson White, said developers in South Korea would be able to add an alternative in-app billing system, alongside Google Play’s billing system, for their mobile and tablet users in the country.
"At checkout, users will be able to choose which billing system to use," he explained. "We respect the decision of the National Assembly, and we are sharing some changes to respond to this new law, including giving developers that sell in-app digital goods and services the option to add an alternative in-app billing system alongside Google Play’s billing system for their users in South Korea."
White went on to add in his post that when a user selects alternative billing in South Korea, Google would reduce the developer’s service fee by 4%. "For example, for the vast majority of developers who pay 15% for transactions through Google Play's billing system, their service fee for transactions through the alternate billing system would be 11%," he said.
Google tells developers to implement alternative billing from April 26; developers cry foul - Economic Times
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